


Return To Bly

by spellmanmanor



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Angst, Death, Family, Gen, Ghosts, Haunting, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29266830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spellmanmanor/pseuds/spellmanmanor
Summary: Bly had been left untouched for years, fading away with the memories that had been made there. Dani had been forgotten, Jamie had been forgotten, all the ghosts had been forgotten, or so everyone thought.Flora realised she recognised the story that the mysterious lady told her the night before her wedding, and decided it was time to learn what really happened at the manor. She needed to return to Bly.
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Flora Wingrave, Dani Clayton/Jamie, Flora Wingrave & Miles Wingrave, Flora Wingrave & Original Characters, Hannah Grose/Owen Sharma, Jamie & Flora Wingrave, Jamie & Owen Sharma
Kudos: 14





	Return To Bly

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first time writing a Bly Manor fic so I hope it's going to be okay! I'm super excited about where this story is going to go and I hope whoever reads it will enjoy <3

Bly had been left untouched and unmoving for many years. It’s halls hadn’t heard the pitter patter of bare feet running down the corridors or the laughter and chatter that came with human life for a good decade now. It’s rooms were left just as they had been when everything happened. The same furniture, the same wallpaper, the same memories, all to be kept in the walls of the manor for all the years to come. 

Just as the spirits at Bly had faded, so did Miles and Flora’s memories. Now that they were adults with their own lives and families, Bly was just a forgotten experience. Henry had expected his nephew and daughter to ask questions about what had happened that fatal autumn, but they never did. Days turned to weeks, turned to months, turned to years, and Bly Manor disappeared from their memories, now only known as the place they had stayed for a few seasons when they were children. 

The family had lived the rest of Miles and Flora’s childhood in America, where Flora had met a lovely boy named James, who she eventually became engaged to. James was a funny, handsome, silly man and Flora loved him a lot. She loved him so much that the idea of ever losing him paralysed her with fear. 

Their wedding had been perfect, if not a little surprising. Flora didn’t know who the lady who had shown up to her practice dinner was, though she could tell Henry and Owen recognised her, so it didn’t ring any alarm bells. She was mesmerised by the story the mysterious woman had told, of the Lady in the Lake and a lost lover, trapped at the bottom of the lake forever. She found it strange that the lady had chosen to use her name for one of the characters, though perhaps it had just been a coincidence. 

But the weirdest thing was, Flora felt like she already knew the story, or at least part of it. She had the strangest sense of deja vu when she listened to the bits about the children in the manor, and how the young girl could communicate with the dead at Bly. She knew as a child she had always experienced strange dreams about ghosts, but this felt different. It felt like she’d lived this story, even though that must be impossible…

She often thought about the lady’s story for many years after she had heard it. Life had once again changed for Flora, for she now had her own family, a son and daughter. Her son was a curious young boy named Marcus, who oftentimes reminded her of herself when she was a child. He had a wild imagination and was always making up stories that he would tell to his mother and father whenever he had the chance. 

Her daughter, on the other hand, wasn’t as bright and bubbly as her son. Poppy had always been a quiet child, and that had continued into her teens. Where her brother would always be chatting and laughing, she preferred to keep to herself and watch from the sidelines. She was very creative in her own right, and was always painting or drawing something, but she kept her art to herself. Her stories were her own, for no one else to see. 

Flora adored having her own family to look after and raise, and she was truly happy with how her life had turned out. But she was still plagued with a feeling that something was off. A darkness in the corner of her perfect life, slowly but surely growing until it eventually could not be ignored. She had a feeling it had something to do with what she had felt the night before her wedding when she had listened to the mysterious lady’s story, and no matter what she tried, she could not shake it. She had to find out why she felt this way. She had to speak to the lady.

She first called Owen to question him on who the woman was and how she could find her. He informed her that she was the gardener who had attended the grounds at Bly when she and Miles were children. She now lived in a small apartment not far from Flora’s own home, above a flower shop that she owned. Owen reluctantly gave her the address and Flora set out to find the woman.

As soon as she walked into the flower shop, she saw the woman’s eyes widen in surprise. She sat behind the till, wearing some old denim dungarees and a striped t-shirt, tending to a wilted plant. “Jamie Clayton?” Flora asked as she approached the till.

“Flora! What a nice surprise!” Jamie smiled, placing the plant down and holding her hand out to shake. “You look well, how is James? Is he still as charming and silly as he was on your wedding day?” She asked.

“He indeed is.” Flora chuckled, smiling at the idea of her husband. Jamie stood from her seat and brushed the dirt from her hands on her dungarees.

“So, what brings you to my shop? I have a feeling it’s not to discuss you wonderful husband.” She said as she came round to the front of the till so she stood in front of Flora. 

“You’re correct. It’s actually about your story.” Flora told her. Jamie raised her eyebrow. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since i heard it. I just have the strangest feeling about it, like I was there, in the manor, with those characters. I know this must sound ridiculous but I needed to come here and speak to you, to at least put my mind at ease and be told it’s just a story.” She chuckled at the silliness of it all. She thought she must sound crazy. 

“I had a feeling this day would come.” Jamie sighed, much to Flora’s surprise. “You would be correct in your feeling, Flora, and now that you are an adult, I think it’s time you were told the truth.” Jamie took Flora’s hand and led her into the backroom of the shop. She sat on one of the sofas that was in the middle of the room and gestured for Flora to do the same. 

“The things I told you that night weren’t just a story, I’m afraid. They all happened, and you, Flora Wingrave, were there to experience it all. You are the little girl in my story, and I am the gardner. Dani was your au pair, and she loved and protected you through all the horrible things that happened during your time at Bly.” Jamie’s eyes filled with tears as she thought of Dani. “I don’t know why, but once the curse was lifted from Bly, you and Miles forgot everything that happened.”

“Where is Bly?” Flora suddenly asked. 

“In Essex, back in England. I don’t know whether it still even exists though, it may have been knocked down or turned into something else.” Jamie sighed. 

“I’m going to go there.” Flora stated. “Just to see if I can connect with any of my memories. I lived in Bly for so much of my childhood yet I remember hardly anything and that needs to change. I’m going to take my family and visit Bly for the winter.”

Jamie stood from her current place on the opposite sofa and came to sit next to Flora. She took her hand and ran her thumb across it. “Flora, Bly is a very dangerous place. The curse may have been lifted but its walls are still tainted with what happened there. So many people died, so many people got hurt. Are you sure that’s the kind of place you want to take your family?”

“I have to. I need to reconnect with myself, I need to remember what happened.” Flora placed her other hand on top of Jamie’s. “We’ll be okay, I promise. It’ll all be just… perfectly splendid.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and kudos, they're much appreciated!


End file.
